Category: Today In History

January 17

38 BC – Octavian divorces his wife Scribonia and marries Livia Drusilla, ending the fragile peace between the Second Triumvirate and Sextus Pompey. 395 – Upon the death of Emperor Theodosius I, the Roman Empire is permanently divided into the Eastern Roman Empire under Arcadius, and the Western Roman Empire under Honorius. 1524 – Giovanni...
Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg's passport picture

January 13

532 – Nika riots continue in Constantinople. 1435 – Sicut Dudum, forbidding the enslavement of the Guanche natives in Canary Islands by the Spanish, is promulgated by Pope Eugene IV. 1793 – Nicolas Jean Hugon de Bassville, representative of Revolutionary France, lynched by a mob in Rome 1840 – The steamship Lexington burns and sinks...
The "Soybean Car" was actually a plastic-bodied car unveiled by Henry Ford on August 13, 1941 at Dearborn Days, an annual community festival.

January 12

1808 – John Rennie’s scheme to defend St Mary’s Church, Reculver, founded in 669, from coastal erosion was abandoned in favour of demolition, despite the church being an exemplar of Anglo-Saxon architecture and sculpture. 1908 – A long-distance radio message is sent from the Eiffel Tower for the first time. 1915 – The United States...
St Mary's Church, Reculver, was founded in the 7th century as either a minster or a monastery on the site of a Roman fort at Reculver, which was then at the north-eastern extremity of Kent in south-eastern England.

January 11

532 – Nika riots in Constantinople: A quarrel between supporters of different chariot teams-the Blues and the Greens-in the Hippodrome escalates into violence. 1569 – First recorded lottery in England. 1571 – Austrian nobility is granted freedom of religion. 1759 – In Philadelphia, the first American life insurance company is incorporated. 1861 – Alabama secedes...
Amelia Mary Earhart was an American aviation pioneer and author. Earhart was the first female aviator to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. She received the U.S. Distinguished Flying Cross for this accomplishment

January 10

49 BC – Julius Caesar crosses the Rubicon, signalling the start of civil war. 1645 – Archbishop William Laud is beheaded at the Tower of London. 1776 – Thomas Paine publishes his pamphlet Common Sense. 1863 – The London Underground, the world’s oldest underground railway, opens between London Paddington station and Farringdon station. 1870 –...
William Frederick "Buffalo Bill" Cody

January 9

475 – Byzantine Emperor Zeno is forced to flee his capital at Constantinople, and his general, Basiliscus gains control of the empire. 1788 – Connecticut becomes the fifth state to be admitted to the United States. 1793 – Jean-Pierre Blanchard becomes the first person to fly in a balloon in the United States. 1839 –...